PROJECT DETAILS
REFERENCES / MICROSOFT
PORTFOLIO / MICROSOFT
LOCATION
Germany, Europe
GROUP SIZE
20 participants
DURATION
4 weeks
Microsoft Partners – A Lesson in Social and Digital Transformation
Would you like to know how C-level executives were able to completely transform the social reputation and trust-level associated with a brand using LinkedIn? One of the worst side-effects of the digital movement of today is a sort of fear that has emerged amongst businesses. There were also quite a few mishaps and embarrassing situations caused by an inability amongst businesses to be sensitive enough to the social dynamics of the platforms.
With the emergence of platforms like LinkedIn, the social stigma surrounding businesses has eased up to quite an extent.
Even so, the fear and reluctance still remains strong among businesses, even today.
The Problem Faced
What tonality and what emotion does it exude?
Does it even have emotion?
Aren't businesses supposed to be large corporate machines?
All of these doubts and more were in the minds of the salespeople at MSBC – Microsoft Business Sales Circle. For them social media was becoming more of a taboo as days passed by.
With stringent deadlines in place, the prospect of posting on social media not only seemed uncomfortable, but also had an element of uncertainty to it.
The ultimate question was – how can a company or organization use social media for professional gains without being too impersonal about the same?
The Solution Proposed
The Microsoft Business Sales Circle (MSBSC) had a vast offline network already in place – partners, shareholders, customers, clients and more.
The solution was an exodus or migration of sorts, whereby the same relationships maintained in the offline world were translated into online connections and interactions.
This could allow for even faster network growth as well as easier scouting of possible business opportunities.
The challenge also involved the positioning of major stakeholders and executive members associated with the company as thought leaders without the pretension of making them seem too overbearing.
The implementation of the strategy involved the following steps:
- Full-day training sessions that would help members understand the immense impact that social media could facilitate in terms of business opportunities.
- Sessions tailored for executives in order to teach them the ways of social selling and how it can help them in establishing themselves as thought leaders in a natural manner.
- Introducing social selling mechanisms, tools and techniques as a fundamental part of performance betterment in Sales, Marketing, and C-Level processes.
- Creating and sharing content that is catered to the needs, aspirations and preferences of the LinkedIn network around the company, using practices like Social Listening.
- Professional branding and identity development for MSBSC, in order to develop an image for the organization that made them feel warm and welcoming towards potential customers as well as candidates.
- Teaching the delicate art of writing InMails that convert using subtle conversational techniques and interpersonal tactics in order to yield a higher response rate.
The Microsoft Partners, all of whom were a part of the prestigious P-Seller program initiated by Microsoft Germany, included executives and managers from the highest of positions in the organization. There were 70 of these individuals in total, of which three groups were defined with about 25 individuals in each. Each group went through the following regime in order to prepare for the social transition that lay ahead of them.
- Full-day training sessions that would help members understand the immense impact that social media could facilitate in terms of business opportunities.
- Follow up webinars after each of these on-location training sessions.
The Outcome
As a result of the training that the executives and managers from the P-Seller program went through, all of their LinkedIn profiles were enhanced to a considerable extent.
Would you like to experience the power of social selling yourself?